LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Fair Trade for Farmers

Recently 29 farm organizations met in St. Louis for a National
Agricultural Summit hosted by National Farmers Union. Among the
consensus forged on a number of issues facing family farms today was
one of critical importance. Under principles of agreement on
concentration is the following statement: "We call for development
and implementation of national legislation prohibiting unjust or
unreasonable conduct by a business that is in a dominating position
in contracting, supplying or buying agricultural goods or
services."

Whether we approve or not, agricultural contracts are fast
becoming a way of life for farmers who produce everything from
livestock to specialty grains to vegetables on contract. A good
example of the inequities in present contracts is that of poultry
producers.

According to the May 9 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, former
state legislator and current Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton,
who grows 250,000 chickens at a time, wouldn't be able to keep the
family farm if he relied on farm income alone.

An article by Russell L. Lamb, senior economist at the Federal
Reserve Bank of Kansas City, in the May 17 issue of Feedstuffs
contains the following statements, "In spite of the weakness
elsewhere in livestock, poultry producers had a good year in 1998,
benefiting from lower feed costs and relatively strong prices for
their output. Prices for broilers rose about 7% in 1998, averaging
dose to 63 cents/lb., allowing for healthy profits by producers." Mr.
Lamb is referring to profits by processors, not the farmers who
actually grow the product.

Australia recently amended their Trade Practices Act to prohibit
unconscionable conduct by a business that is in a dominating position
in contracts of less than $1 million dollars. Their laws have long
prohibited businesses from acting in an unconscionable manner toward
consumers, as do ours. It is time to offer farmers the same
remedy.

Root Out Corruption

At this time in history, "corporation" and "corruption", although
derived from different roots, could very well be synonymous, and with
voters becoming more and more lackadaisical towards Congresses which
demonstrate that so many of its members are for sale to the highest
bidder, it can't be very long before our "Government of the People"
becomes a government of conniving corporate manipulators. As things
are today, far too many Senators and Congressmen apparently feel that
they owe more to their "important" corporate financiers than they do
to us, the "riff-raff" who put them into office.

Our governance by people who, in effect, "owe their souls to the
company store" cannot get any better until we wean our
"representatives" away from their dependence on corporate money and
get enough intellectually honest people on the Supreme Court bench
who will acknowledge that there's a world of difference between a
seventy-five cent high-school cheerleader's megaphone and a
five-hundred dollar electronic amplifier.

And it's time that we let Congress in on that dirty little
secret.

RAY NARDIN
Franklin Park, Ill.

Cut Out Legalized Bribery

Apparently many fail to realize that until we see some major
campaign finance reforms, our government will continue to be
corrupted by what boils down to legalized bribery. Having a
government that is truly by and for "the people" would necessarily
involve some major changes in campaign finance laws, which apparently
our politicians don't seem to find desirable. It would be much better
for the people if our major political contenders would participate in
a series of public debates and not be allowed to accept donations,
nor to spend any money at all for advertising.

Politicians are supposed serve the people, not big money.

JOHN O'NEILL
Austin, Texas
Email one@inetport.com

Tax the Churches

"The divorce between Church and State ought to be absolute. It
ought to be so absolute that no church property anywhere in any state
or in the nation should be exempt from equal taxation, for if you
exempt the property of any church organization, to that extent you
impose a tax upon the whole community." (James A. Garfield, 20th U.S.
President (1881), as a Congressman in 1874; Congressional
Record vol. 2, part 6, p. 5384.)

I am so fed up with the self-righteousness of U.S. churches and
their constant attempts to impose their rigid ideas of morality on
the rest of us that refuse to be churched. The way they defy the
constitution (with the subservience of a weak-minded Congress) is a
disgrace. Not only do they have property-tax exemptions but salaried
chaplains in Congress and in the armed forces. They also have the
cooperation of the media in spreading the myth that only church goers
are good citizens. It turns my stomach to see the pious posturings of
all these TV evangelists who beg for money and then interfere in
politics to gain more privileges.

It is about time that free-thinkers and agnostics oppose these
hypocrites and their congressional flunkies. We need a non-Christian
coalition to expose these would-be theocrats. They are a creeping
infection in American political and social life.

JAMES F. SCULLY
Mount Carmel, Penn.

Editor Replies: There are plenty of churchgoing
Christians who feel the same way, but check out People For the
American Way, 2000 M Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036;
phone 800-326-7329.

Check Aspartame

Aspartame, a sugar substitute chemical manufactured by Monsanto,
is now found in some 500 U.S. food and drink products like Diet
Pepsi, Diet Cola, and so on.

Dr. Donohue, a physician who writes a syndicated newspaper column,
recently had a sad letter which makes a point concerning consumption
of Diet Coke:

"My best friend, age 15, is on a wacky diet. All she eats are
pickles and Diet Coke. She hasn't had a major growth yet. Is this
like anorexia?"

Dr. Donohue made the following reply:

"Your friend's problem surely is anorexia. Alert your friend's
eating habits to her parents. She can permanently stunt her growth if
someone doesn't rescue her. She will not mature sexually, and she
runs the risk of dying."

Recently, World Environmental Conference pointed a finger directly
at Monsanto and its product Aspartame. Some of the ailments reported
to be from chemical sweetness are the following: fibro-myalgia,
spasms, shooting pains, leg numbness, cramps, vertigo, dizziness,
headaches, tinnitus, jointpain, anxiety, brain malfunction, memory
loss. This is Aspartame's Achilles' heel.

Because it is derived from wood alcohol, Aspartame turns into
formaldehyde and then fermic acid when it exceeds any temperature
above 86 degrees F. This is the chemical fire ants have enabling them
to sting animals to death.

This is one reason many Desert Storm veterans are plagued with
health problems.

The Army sent pallets loaded with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi into a
desert temperature of 124 degrees F. The troops drank this concoction
to keep cool 24 hours a day.

Researchers now suggest that the recent Environmental Protection
Agency's announcement of a current epidemic of multiple sclerosis and
systemic lupus is related to Aspartame consumption in food and
drink.